Will this work?
Yes in a big ball of flame ;D
You need a resistor in line with the +ve of the diodes and the zener diode. This will limit the current through the zener and drop the excess voltage across it.
The value must be calculated by taking the maximum current and the difference between the zener voltage and the input voltage, then work out the resistor value from that. It will also burn some power so calculate the power dissipation as well.