Behind The Title

The title, The Ace of Diamonds, refers to Jay, however it also relates to the theme of everyone wanting to be on top or number one. Jay, feeling second to Kane, wants to be number one in Carmen’s life, while Carmen is trying to stay number one in the fashion world. In the meantime, Blu arrives in Brookstone trying to take over the cartel in hopes of controlling the drug trade in the US.

Chapter One

1. Dallas, Texas- The book opens in Dallas where you learn Jay has come to Texas to visit Lotus Pagua, otherwise known as Harold Davenport, Carmen’s father. This location became a part of the book after a nearly two week trip to Dallas to visit my aunt who lives there. I wrote part of the series there so I wanted the city to be a part of the collection.
2. “It was tastefully decorated by illustrations of luxury home floor plans and commercial real estate properties”- This line comes from the scene where Jay visits Davenport Realty in hopes of convincing Lotus to sell him a warehouse to keep his diamonds. At the building where I work, there is lots of artwork of buildings, which gave me the idea to incorporate this into the building for Davenport Realty. Since it is a real estate company, it only made sense that the walls would feature paintings of buildings and blueprints.
3. Paternity fraud– One of the issues in the book is Rakim’s paternity. Jay sues Carmen and her then-husband Kane for paternity fraud. This plotline idea came from the paternity case involving Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, Dannielynn, and Larry Birkhead.
4. 

   globalgrind.com

   “There he was admitting that he was suing her and in the same breath, he was asking her to team up with him. The last thing she wanted to do was go into business with him”- This line comes from the scene when Carmen finds Jay outside of Flame. She confronts him about the paternity suit in which he asks for her hand in another one of his business ventures. She says no at first, but eventually she complies. If you’ve been following my previous blog series, Behind the Book, you would know Carmen’s character is influenced by Kimora Lee Simmons. Have you noticed that despite her divorce from Russell Simmons, the two still work together in business? Their latest venture, which was announced just yesterday (April 24, 2015) is an energy drink called Celsius. When I was writing the novel, their relationship made me believe that despite the end of a personal relationship, a business one can still strive.

5. “You’ve always been my Bonnie”- This line was spoken by Jay and is an ode to of course, Bonnie and Clyde.