A former henna artist in her early forties, Lakshmi Shastri Kumar established a successful business in Jaipur. During these years, she learned much confidential information about her upper-class clientele and earned the trust of the royal family. However, Parvati Singh sought to discredit her and falsely accused Lakshmi of thievery. Lakshmi then left the big city for the small mountain town of Shimla, where she developed an herb garden to offer holistic remedies to the locals at the community clinic.

During her years as an herbalist, she married Doctor Jay Kumar. The two raised the orphaned Malik. Lakshmi has always been highly capable and knows how to function independently in a man’s world. Despite her own need for independence, Lakshmi has a tendency to be overly protective of those in her care. In the first novel of the series, she tried to control her sister Radha’s life and makes the same mistake with Malik in the second novel. Fortunately, by the end of this story, Lakshmi learns to let go.

In the first novel, Abbas Malik is an orphan living on the streets and whom Lakshmi takes in as her assistant in the henna trade. He proves bright and resourceful at an early age and also learns many secrets about the social elite of Jaipur.