No sooner did DreamWorks announce it had purchased J. Michael Straczynski's thriller screenplay centering on the friendship between Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini that word materialized that Syfy is developing its own series loosely based on that real-life relationship.

Deadline reports the cable network acquired the rights to Among the Spirits, a self-published graphic novel written by Steve Valentine and Paul Chart that's described as "a turn-of-the-century Fringe." Taking its name from Houdini's 1924 book A Magician Among the Spirits, the drama follows Houdini and Doyle as they solve bizarre murders and strange events in the 1920s with the assistance of a female police officer -- and steampunk technology.

Entertainment One, the company behind Syfy's Haven, will produce Among the Spirits, with Chart and Valentine writing as well as producing with Daniel J. Frey.