NEVER HAVING WRITTEN a novel, Vincent Cornier (1898–1976) is a name recognized only by devoted aficionados of detective fiction, especially those who are drawn to locked rooms and impossible crimes, a form in which he excelled. Born in Redcar, Yorkshire, he began writing at a very young age, earning the not inconsiderable sum of a hundred guineas a year at fourteen, selling articles to newspapers and magazines for a half guinea each. After serving in the Royal Air Force as a pilot in World War I, he became a journalist and soon began writing fiction, placing stories in both English and American magazines such as Pearson’s, The Storyteller, and Argosy. Cornier created a series character for some of his stories, Barnabas Hildreth, who is similar to R. Austin Freeman’s famous Dr. Thorndyke. A scientist, Hildreth brings careful analysis to the mysteries with which he is confronted, meticulously examining the most minute details and bringing scientific knowledge to interpreting them. A member of British Intelligence, he is known as “The Black Monk” by those who work with him, a moniker perhaps a bit more colorful than the character himself.
“The Flying Hat” was first published in the May 1929 issue of The Storyteller; it was then published in book form in the British anthology The Best Detective Stories of 1929, edited anonymously by Ronald Knox and H. Harrington (London, Faber & Faber, 1930).