________________________

'Now and again you discover a thriller that sweeps you off your feet. This is one' - Daily Mail

'A gritty, gripping read, and one that begs to be put on film' - Los Angeles Times

'A taut and intriguing thriller' - Sunday Times
________________________

Based on a true story, Hard Twisted is a chilling tale of survival and redemption, and a young girl's coming of age in a world as cruel as it is beautiful.

Lucile Garrett is just thirteen when she meets Clint Palmer, a charismatic stranger who will forever change her life. The year is 1934, and as the windblown dust of the Great Depression rakes the Oklahoma plains, Palmer offers Lucile and her father, homeless and hungry, the irresistible promise of a better future.

But when they follow Palmer to Texas, Lucile's father mysteriously disappears, launching man and girl on an epic journey through the American Southwest: a spree of violence and murder that culminates in one of the most celebrated criminal trials of the era.
________________________

'For crime lovers who want a genuinely gripping read' - Glamour

C. Joseph Greaves is a former L.A. trial lawyer now based in Santa Fe. His discovery of two human skulls in a remote Utah canyon would lead, eighteen years later, to the completion of Hard Twisted, named Best Historical Novel of 2010 in the South West Writers international writing contest, in which Greaves was also honored with the grand-prize Storyteller Award. Greaves is also writing an L.A.-based mystery series; the first installment, Hush Money, was published by Minotaur in spring 2012.