Dr. Phineas Mann has come a long way from the darkness in his past. He has a loving wife, two bright children, a lively interest in beekeeping, and a rewarding career in intensive care medicine. And then a challenging case presents: an elderly man in the throes of full-blown tetanus. To make a difficult case worse, the patient's openly racist son abuses and threatens his father's medical team, especially the Black intern. When inexplicable setbacks occur, the son's threats escalate, and the darkness from Phineas' past comes roaring into the present.

A Swarm in May is the debut novel of a doctor and beekeeper and weaves systemic racism, Little League baseball, and the art and science of beekeeping into a riveting medical mystery.