Robbery has always been a powerful theme for a good book and in DIRTY DEALING: Waging War with Harvey Weinstein and the Screenplay that Changed Hollywood, author Jeffrey Allan Grosso takes this notion to the extreme.

As the highly entertaining and surprisingly humorous book unfolds, Grosso makes a convincing argument that Harvey Weinstein and Miramax blatantly stole his screenplay, The Shell Game, to make the popular poker film Rounders.

Stealing intellectual property is a tough case to prove but Grosso makes a shockingly strong argument against the now disgraced movie mogul and his studio.

Grosso’s subsequent lawsuit became a historic landmark case that led to a novel legal precedent being set — one that forever changed American copyright law, made national headlines, and turned Grosso’s attorney into the California Lawyer of the Year.

The saga of his battle royale makes for exciting reading to be sure and once you start you will not want to put this book down. In addition to being a page-turning thrill ride of a tome, it is actually also Grosso’s own true personal tale of a young poker player and aspiring writer who works his way through college by playing Texas Hold ‘Em, only to find the screenplay he has written about his experiences has been blatantly co-opted without his consent.

Dirty Dealing is a real-life adventure comedy disguised as a legal thriller that winds its way through the baffling and often contradictory, opaque legal landscape.

How the screenplay was purloined and made into cult classic Rounders starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton is a who-dun-it of epic proportions and one that will forever change your view on how Hollywood really works behind the scenes.

Naturally, Hollywood screws Grosso out of both credit and remuneration and his fight to wrest a sliver of recognition for his work turns out to be an excellent and entertaining David vs Goliath fight that will have you cheering for the underdog.

Does he prevail? And survive to fight and write another day? It’s one man’s iron will against a crooked system. Our money’s on the artist. That is the intriguing soul of this fine book which we highly recommend. Turns out Hollywood’s a lot like poker—so much is out of our control and both poker and Hollywood are a microcosm of existence that doesn’t convey the true nature of things. Available on Amazon and a swell gift for the holidays.

PS: Grosso’s got a new book in the works which we can’t wait to read: KEY WEST HUSTLE takes readers on a journey of dope smuggling and treasure hunting in the shady waters of the Florida Keys. Inspired by real events, this book is populated by some of the craziest, kookiest, and most dangerous characters ever committed to print and is chock full of excitement, hilarity, dirty dealing, death and riches. Coming soon to a virtual shelf near you.