... or even that might not help since this isn't emotion-based. Thomas' Hunger Demon doesn't need emotions to feed on his own life energy. Maybe no protection will work against feeding "from within".

I think that's the key here. Just as Thomas' demon feeds on his own energy when there's no other food available, the baby's demon, connected to Justine through the womb, feeds on her, because that's what's available to it. And since Thomas' True Love doesn't protect him from his own internal Hunger, Justine's Love can't protect her from her baby's Hunger. They're going to need another solution.

Re: Thomas taking up the Sword of Love...

Notice that the Swords and meant to balance the Coins.

Notice that in Skin Game, Nic changed the game by recruiting powerful demi-humans to take up coins -- Blood-on-His-Soul successfully and Goodman Grey unsuccessfully.

The logical result should be Heaven powering up the Knights of the Sword to keep the balance -- which makes it more likely that we'll see a supernatural demi-human recruited to take up a Sword.

Of course, a more explicit balance to Blood-on-His-Soul would be the scion of Strength-of-a-River-in-His-Shoulders... who coincidentally is moving to Chicago...

That's an interesting idea, and I'd like to see it happen. But is Strength-of-a-River-in-His-Shoulders a king, or related to one? Earlier in the series, Harry had a theory that sword wielders are descended from royalty. (Sounds like I need to reread the Bigfoot stories!)

Thomas definitely qualifies-- Papa Wraith was King of the White Court.

I've suspected that the "Murphy's funeral" hint is a mislead of sorts... a Murphy may die, but we don't know that it's Karrin. IIRC, she's got a big family. One (or more) of her relatives might die as collateral damage if when a big fight kicks off, especially if they're in law enforcement. That could impact the choices she makes further down the line... but that's just a WAG. (My first one! Yay?)

(if he is someone we know...there is apparently a WOJ that says we do).

Of course it's someone we know. It's more painful for Harry, and therefore more fun for Jim, if Cowl is somebody he (and by extension, the reader) knows.

Beyond that, I have no idea who Cowl is. 

I'm torn on the sacrifice in Changes.

The ritual itself is the blackest of magics. But Harry was able to subvert it, to take out a great source of evil in the world. And Susan was a willing sacrifice. She was willing to die to save her daughter's life-- and with the vampire side of her taking over, in a way, she was already dying. The reason Harry had to kill her was because she couldn't do it herself.

So while Harry undoubtedly accrued some stain of black magic from triggering that spell, I wonder if he might have received less than the total amount, due to mitigating circumstances. It was, in some way, an act of love... and I don't have the books handy at the moment, but I remember someone (Uriel?) telling Harry that if he acted out of love, he wouldn't completely lose his way.

I could be wrong, but that's my (half-formed) take.

@morriswalters: It's not unusual for a hardcover release to have a paperback ARC. I saw that more than once when I was lucky enough to work in a bookstore. 

I'm thinking (hoping) the April 2020 date is a conservative guesstimate. If Jim got the manuscript back from the Betas and submitted it to the publisher in August, that's an eight-month turnaround, giving plenty of time for revisions, typesetting, printing, etc.

I'm truly hoping the publisher decides to expedite the process (and not just because I want it in my hands ASAP.) I'd heard here somewhere that the beta readers were getting chunks to read during the writing process. If that's true, then hopefully (crossing fingers) the manuscript won't need much polishing. Plus with all the pent-up demand for the title I think it's worth their while to get Peace Talks out as quickly as is reasonably possible.

I'm still hoping for December, but first quarter 2020 is also possible. The only justification I can think of for waiting until April is to avoid January and February, which tend to be slow months for retail in general. (And IMHO a good way to fight slow sales is to publish a proven author!)