Deep Quarry

When a private eye undergoing a moral crisis uncovers a long-buried starship that's still occupied by nasty aliens, he and woman he loves have to overcome them to survive.

Ben Takent is a private eye on a hot, dusty world at the edge of the civilized galaxy. When he's asked to find out who is stealing artifacts from a 10,000-year-old archaeological dig in the desert, he reluctantly takes the case. Then, when it becomes clear that the artifacts are pointing to an ancient alien spacecraft, the stakes in the case go up—way up.
Reviews

"My favorite kind of story—a novel that starts small, then slowly builds in momentum until it fairly explodes with excitement. Deep Quarry is intriguing, mystery/science fiction at its best."—Rave Reviews

"A fun cross—genre fling."—Locus

"I let a couple of John Stith's SF mysteries go by without checking them out.... If I'd been a little faster off the mark, I could have turned you on to a good thing earlier...."—Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine

"Sense of wonder story—telling at its best, with enough danger to keep me reading long past my bedtime. Come on. You've been good. You deserve to read Deep Quarry.... Stith can do it every time."—Magazine of Fantasy & SF