Patrick deWitt’s last book, The Sisters Brothers (2011), was a glorious black-comic western about two hitmen chasing a prospector during the California gold rush. His new novel is a bittersweet coming-of-age story of sentimental education styled as a gothic fairytale.

Lucy (short for Lucien) is a lovelorn young misfit who leaves his village unlamented to serve in the castle of an eccentric rat-eating baron, who pops up in his staff’s quarters covered in blood after dark. Ominous silence surrounds the fate of Lucy’s predecessor, Mr Broom, and outside lurks something known as the Very Big Hole. The mystery can seem mannered and there’s a lot of white space on the page to serve as a kind of echo chamber for deWitt’s deadpan narration. It’s funny but the novel is most engaging when the author takes a back seat and lets his characters provide the comedy.

• Undermajordomo Minor is published by Granta, £12.99. Click here to buy it for £9.99