Forbidden Fruit

In 1918 young John J. West was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for bravery in the trenches of France during the Great War; to the French, he was a hero. Back home in Illinois, after the war, he was just another Negro “boy”. His attraction to sexy Marie Holden, the daughter of a prominent white judge, resulted in a gruesome death—for both of them.

This is the story of Ida Mae West and private eye, Dan’l Coffey and their relationship that develops while they search to find out who was responsible for her son’s murder. FORBIDDEN FRUIT takes them on a roller coaster ride filled with obstacles: racism, religious differences, crooked cops and the KKK.


“Forbidden Fruit is a literary juggling act. Dan Zahn keeps all the elements
of this tense drama in constant motion. And he never once drops a ball!”
— Jerald H. Thiel