Unable to perform multi-byte SPI; Single OK

Hello -

Board - STM32 NUCLEO-L476G

Peripheral board ADXL313 (16 byte data registers)

Interface - SPI

I  can perform single byte read, combine the 2, 8 bit values and the data is correct. Yet, when I try to perform a 2 byte SPI read, it's garbage.

This works:

uint8_t ADXL313_ReadRegister(uint8_t reg)
{
uint8_t rxData[1];
uint8_t txVal[1];
txVal[0] = (reg | 0x80);
ACC_CS_ASSERT();  // low
HAL_SPI_Transmit(&hspi3, txVal, 1, HAL_MAX_DELAY);
HAL_SPI_Receive(&hspi3, rxData, 1, HAL_MAX_DELAY);
ACC_CS_DEASSERT(); //high

return rxData[0];
}

int16_t ADXL313_ReadDataRegister( uint8_t reg)
{
uint8_t data0 = ADXL313_ReadRegister(reg);
reg += 1;
uint8_t data1 = ADXL313_ReadRegister(reg);
return (int16_t)((data1 << 8  | data0 );
}

Using above data values are correct when doing to separate 1 byte reads and combining

But this...does NOT work:

void ADXL313_ReadDataRegister(int16_t *data)
{
uint8_t txData[1];
uint8_t rxData[2];

txData[0] = ADXL313_REG_DATAX0 | 0x80; // 0x80 to indicate read operation

ACC_CS_ASSERT(); //low
HAL_SPI_Transmit(&hspi3, txData, 1, HAL_MAX_DELAY);

HAL_SPI_Receive(&hspi3, rxData, 2, HAL_MAX_DELAY); //set for 2 byte read
ACC_CS_DEASSERT(); //high

// Combine 2 registers for data
*data = (int16_t)((rxData[1] << 8  | rxData[0]);   //DATA IS NOT GOOD
}

Can someone provide feedback on what the issue might be?

Thanks!