The novel “The Star Collector” by Matthew William was published in 2019.

Joe Corbit is a sheriff in a space frontier where problems are generally limited but his life and that of his deputy Tammy change when an investigation leads them to come across an artifact belonging to the Talashaa, an ancient alien civilization that got extinct for mysterious reasons long before the birth of the human species.

When Joe Corbit takes possession of the alien artifact, his intention is to put it up for auction knowing that there are people who are willing to pay a lot of money for a Talashaa artifact. However, the Chinese Galactic Empire was working with the Martian mob to smuggle it for reasons that go well beyond archeology and they want to get it back at all costs.