Thomas Alexander Boyd (July 3, 1898 - January 27, 1935) was an American journalist and novelist, born in Defiance, Ohio. He was raised by his mother's family due to his father's death before he was born. While still in school, he and a friend enlisted in the US Marine Corps and saw service in France, where he was gassed in 1918. Upon discharge from the occupation forces in 1919, Boyd tried several occupations before becoming a writer for newspapers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.