Image copyright AP Image caption The film will see Leonardo DiCaprio play one of his darkest roles yet

Director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio are to team up for a big screen adaptation of Erik Larson's 2003 book The Devil in the White City.

DiCaprio is expected to play serial killer Dr HH Holmes, who used the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago to lure his victims to their deaths.

Holmes claimed to have killed 27 people - although some later estimates put his death toll at nearer 200.

It will be the sixth time DiCaprio has worked with Scorsese.

Their previous films include The Wolf of Wall Street, The Departed and Gangs of New York.

'Murder castle'

DiCaprio reportedly bought the film rights to The Devil in the White City in 2010.

It tells the story of Dr Holmes, who converted a large building in Chicago and turned it into what became known as a "murder castle".

It had a padded room with a gas pipe to asphyxiate victims, a chute for dispatching bodies to the cellar and, in the cellar, a hidden butcher's table and oven that had the remains of women's clothing.

The screenplay will be written by Billy Ray, who scripted Captain Phillips and The Hunger Games.