Gideon Ludlow is a devout Mormon. He is a young man living in Utah and content with his job as dog catcher since it gives him time between calls to study law and more importantly because he loves animals, especially dogs.

However, a neighborhood complaint about a barking dog turns his life around. He meets the dog from behind the closed door of a residence. No one appears to be home other than the dog, which he talks to and manages to calm down. Gideon checks with neighbors. They haven’t seen Dr. Fred Katz, who owns the house.

Gideon informs headquarters. A detail is dispatched that includes a young female officer who is also a Mormon. Police enter the house, which reeks of urine and feces. At first the dog is wary of the arrivals, but Gideon puts him on a leash. Police find evidence of a struggle and dried blood. This is suddenly a suspected crime scene.

The details are threads to “The Dog Catcher’s Tale,” the latest novel by Warwick resident Lonnie Barham. Barham has chosen his subjects purposely to explore religious beliefs he knew little about and in a setting where he could discuss physician assisted death (PAD) that is allowed in a limited number of states but not Rhode Island. This is not a legal argument for or against PAD or an academic explanation of the beliefs of Latter-Day Saints or Jews. Dr. Katz is Jewish.

Barham doesn’t preach to his readers but carries them from one scene to the next as Gideon and Marta Engstrom, the young female officer, eventually team up to hunt for the missing Dr. Katz, who they correctly assume has been kidnapped.

The beliefs of Latter-Day Saints and the degree to which they followed are brought to light through the romantic relationship that develops between Gideon and Marta and PAD through conversations between Dr. Katz and his assailant.

Barham’s knowledge of police operations, the military and military equipment shines throughout the story. It’s no wonder.

Barham’s military experience is impressive. He was born and raised in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and enlisted in the Navy immediately after high school in 1965. He rose to the rank of colonel in the Army after serving six years in the Navy as a diver aboard the world’s first nuclear submarine during the Vietnam war — the USS Nautilus — followed by service in the Rhode Island Army National Guard from 1972 to 2002, then transferring to the Army Reserve.

He was activated to serve during the Persian Gulf War for service as operations officer for the mobilized 118th Military Police Battalion of the RI Army National Guard. During this period of service in 1990-91, Barham served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq, and his battalion was attached to the First Infantry Division during its attack into Iraq and the subsequent liberation of Kuwait. In 2003 he was activated for the Global War on Terrorism, serving on active duty until his mandatory retirement at age 60 in 2007. During that period, Col. Barham supervised the mobilization, equipping, training and deployment of more than 40,000 soldiers through Fort Dix who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in support of the Global War on Terrorism. He was also reassigned to the Pentagon, where he served as the Army’s Chief of Emergency Services with responsibility for the oversight of all military and civilian police, fire, ambulance and anti-terrorism services at all Army forts and installations around the world.

His service and that of his wife, Ginny, who is also a retired Army colonel, is a huge part of their lives.

Barham has countless stories, but it is scenarios that allow him to write about challenges that keep him fueled and enrich the lives of his children and grandchildren. Bedtime stories, not ones read from books, but personally imagined were a family staple as were treasure hunts that Barham carefully choreographed with believable clues and maps.

“The Dog Catcher’s Tale” provides the reader with clues that lead one to ponder the outcome of the story and breeze from one short chapter to the next.

It’s a quick read that increases understanding of Latter-Day Saints and examines the question of whether people should be allowed to end their lives. Barham is hopeful the book will fuel dialogue of PAD in Rhode Island. He sent a copy to state Rep. Edith Ajello, who has introduced PAD legislation that never even reached a committee hearing. Barham said Ajello called him to report she read the book in one sitting and was excited to have other legislators read it, too. Barham aims to get copies to all state legislators this year.

Barham’s first novel, “Dancing With The Moon,” is a tale of a blue-blooded Rhode Island lawyer and Vietnam War veteran faced with the challenge of fulfilling the dying wish of the platoon sergeant who saved his life in battle. The sergeant, now a Providence police officer, wants his friend to find the girl [Moon] he fathered a decade earlier in Vietnam.

Barham’s research into the war and how it affected American troops, this country and Vietnam took him to the country which is reflected in descriptions of the places he visited, the people he met and even the food he ate.

Both novels are available on Amazon and at the offices of the Warwick Beacon/Cranston Herald/Johnston SunRise located at 1944 Warwick Ave., Warwick.

What’s next?

It looks like a book of 12 short stories. And what might be the tales?

Barham reaches for his phone and scrolls through a list of about 70 possibilities. Here are three:

• “The Lottery Candidate” A man wins an $800 million lottery and takes home $500M. As a gift to America, he selects one city or town in each state to give $1M each for infrastructure improvements. This leads to him being promoted as a candidate for president.

• “The Negotiation” A man negotiates with God about how long he will live. After lengthy negotiations, during which all the man’s past mistakes and all of his good deeds are brought up, 88 is the negotiated result—the age he will live to. The story is the recounting to God of his good and not-so-good deeds, his guilt about some, his pride about others, and God’s recriminations, applause and warnings.

• “Remember The Amistad!” A group of black sailors aboard a large U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa upset because of their “servitude” as stewards serving white officers, plan to take the ship’s 20-man liberty launch and escape “back to Africa.” Their rallying cry: “Remember the Amistad!” (In 1839, the revolt of enslaved African captives aboard a Spanish-owned ship caused a major controversy in the United States after they took over the ship, which was ultimately captured off the coast of Long Island. (Former President John Quincy Adams defended the men and won their freedom.)