Storm Front by John Sandford

Storm Front (A Virgil Flowers Novel) - Lutheran minister from Mankato, Minnesota, Elijah Jones, a dying man, steals an artifact (a stele) from an Israeli dig.  As he makes his escape, he leaves an easy to follow trail.  Back home in Minnesota, Virgil Flowers is following Ma Nobles and her sons who sell counterfeit barn lumber.  When the Israelis send Yael Aronov to the States to retrieve the stele, Lucas Davenport tasks Virgil to assist her in apprehending Jones and returning the the stele to Israel. Of course, it is not that simple, as it turns out, Jones plans on selling the stele, and several groups of people are trying to obtain the artifact by whatever means they can.