And yet Harry didn't have that ability in Blood Rites when Inari entered his room.  Harry knew Inari was Thomas and Lara's youngest sister.  Mouse was growling a puppy growl at Inari, Harry noticed a change in the way she moved; he called it "serpentine movement," he saw her eyes start to go silver and he said what he felt was different from what he felt when Lara did her thing, "but just as potent."  The next thing Inari is running her tongue along Harry's collarbone and then kissing him and only Harry's immunity saved him.

So I'm not sensing that a newby White Court vampire is any less dangerous than an experienced one.  The mortal side of a new White Court vamp is immature and inexperienced, but the demon inside instinctively knows how to entice, entrap and kill.

  In the bedroom, he was worn out and distracted and, most importantly, had never been directly subjected to a WC vampire's feeding influence before.  He'd developed an image of Inari in his head as this sweet, innocent girl with terrible taste in pizza, and was unprepared when she came into his room.

  Harry of 8-10 years later, however, knows exactly what's up.  He quickly puts the pieces together and deduces Tania's identity well enough to know what she's probably capable of.  And as we've heard Harry himself say to Madeline, Lara can do some amazing things to your brain just by sitting in a chair.  Tania had to put her hand directly on Harry's skin.  And her inexperience is played up as a major part of the story- she set up baby's first gambit against someone she absolutely could not beat, and Lara allowed it to happen to drill some humility into her.  That's implied to be the whole reason Riley was there.

  Granted, the idea that Inari's influence was apparently just as potent as Lara's could be significant.  However, I think it could mean two different things:

 1:  Just as the text says, Inari's Hunger is just as strong as Lara's in general.  We do have a tidbit, though, from Justine (I think it was in Backup?), describing Thomas' Hunger as stronger than anyone's "but her's".  I can't help but assume that Justine's referring to Lara.
 
 2:  Inari, in that moment, had no frame of reference for the Hunger's influence, and thus had no control over it.  Lara's been at the game for a while- she knows exactly how much of the come hither to project to achieve the desired result.  At that point, Harry had only been subject to Lara's passive appeal, which implies to me that Inari's full-force attack was only as potent as Lara's everyday swagger.

  I simply don't see the Winter Mantle blocking the sexy broadcast from a WC.  There's no justification that I can remember that can't be explained by the fact that Harry is just more aware and competent than he used to be, combined with the fact that Tania is new to this game.
 
  If there were such a defense mechanism in place for the mantle bearer, I'd think it was more along the lines of the Winter Lady's automatic defenses against sex.  Yeah, sure, you might bombard them with the brainwaves, but the second you get deep enough in their system to start feeding, they tear your arms off.  That's much more on-brand than generic "I'm immune to your stupid sexy charms".

  Correct me if I'm wrong on any of my recollections here.

Andi might have taken some sort of lasting injuries in CD, but from the brief mention of her in the Butters short Day One, she's not by any means vegetative.

Butters mentions in his short story that Andi and He haven't held back the newbs in their Guild for World of Warcraft. I doubt he'd say that if Andi was in a coma.

  Good catch.  I had forgotten she was mentioned in Day One.  Yeah, there's no way she's completely out.  There might be some physical issues, maybe a touch of brain damage, but there's not much to suggest even that.

•   [Malcolm] - So far, we've only seen Carmichael, Papa Murphy, and Sir Stuart halfway.  I'm not sure that being in Chicago Between has anything to do with either not being good enough or bad enough for What Comes Next, so much as it has something to do with having a will that's not satisfied with being done with the mortal world.  And at the moment, Chicago Between is the only force we know of that holds deceased spirits which also acts to counteract an enemy but has its actions restricted.

  The exact words from Ghost Story:

  Uriel smiled.  "Collin, like the others, is with me because he is not yet prepared to face what comes next.  When he is, he'll take that step.  For now, he is not."

  Granted, that could mean that he simply felt there was work yet to do, but to me it implies he is not comfortable moving on- that he's trying to come to terms with his choices in life.  Or something along those lines.

•   [Cowl] - No.  In fact, Harry *never* really remarks at all about either's physical appearance.  Neither tall nor short nor fat nor thin.  Which is really, really conspicuous for a PI that notes EVERYONE'S physical appearance.  My best guess is there's some sort of magic protecting him from noting it.  However - Dresden is ALSO able to identify Cowl *at a glance* later on, so presumably he's subconsciously aware of his physical appearance, even if he's not consciously aware.

  I'll admit, that lack of information does seem interesting.  More pieces to consider:

A:  Does Harry actually recognize Cowl at a glance, or does he suspect it's Cowl?  I seem to remember he only had confirmation when Cowl spoke, or when he called up his magic and Harry recognized the feel of it.

B:  If Cowl is Future Harry, why does he need Kemmler's book?  Harry memorized the important bits in his own timeline.  I'd think the Conservation of History would be stretched to the snapping point by all the what-ifs and wizzle-wazzles involved in Cowl changing his own history so drastically.  But hell, maybe that's exactly what's happening.

•   [Mac] - *taps nose*

  *exaggeratedly winks eye*

•   [Andi] - Really?  To the person he's extremely angry at and wary of?  You think that Butters is going to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with the person who was too gosh-darned important to let him make sure his girlfriend wasn't bleeding into her brain after getting a concussion and being stuck under freezing water for so long, and then left Butters and co. to fend for themselves?  You think that he wants to open up to Dresden about how he pretty much made his girlfriend a vegetable and make him pity Butters?  Or worse, not? 
I'll tell you what I see - I see Andi being extremely injured, getting hit on the head, being deprived of oxygen, and the only person at the end of Cold Days who needs to be rushed to the hospital.  She's not talking.  We never hear how she's doing.  In Skin Game, she's always out of the room, out of sight.  She doesn't help Butters in any of his activities, even though she would be far more dangerous and more capable than him, even in his Batman-mode.  Better able to spy on Dresden, too.  Her absence is EXTREMELY conspicuous, given the dire condition she was in a the end of Cold Days.  And none of Butters' dialogue implies anything of Andi, other than that she's passively somewhere, waiting for him.

  Looking back on their first discussion in Skin Game, I'll say this much- Butters asked Murphy to "go hang out with Andi".  That alone is suspicious, I'll admit.  I don't know that she's in such bad shape as you claim, since Murphy didn't mention it when explaining Butters' apprehensions, and Butters doesn't mention it at any point after he's recovered his faith in Harry.  And then there's this line:

  "I heard quiet talking going on in the living room, between Butters and Karrin and another female voice- Andi, presumably.  A moment later, the door opened and closed again.  The quiet of an emptier house settled over the place."

  It's a stretch to assume the third voice would be anyone other than Andi.  It COULD be, certainly, since he doesn't specifically recognize it, but my money is on her.  It's possible she may have suffered damage that reduces her mobility, but that's about as far as I'd take it for now.

•   [Ebenezer] We don't exactly know how Nemesis transmits from person to person.  Presumably, it's not something as communicable as a normal disease.  There would, after all, be no reason why it needed to try to manipulate Lily and Fix if Maeve could have infected them just as easily.  With that being said, you're correct that Nemesis would have recognized Harry as a threat, even if Evil Eb didn't.  So I'm backing off on him being nemefected.
However, I don't believe for a second he's not still lying.  He pretty much says so at the end of Changes.  That's twice that he's concealed something huge and important and critical to Harry.  Lies by omission are still lies, and Eb DID say in Blood Rites that everything was out in the open.

  I could believe that he's lying, by omission if nothing else.  He's a wizard, and wizards don't often share all their secrets.  Still not convinced that it's out of malevolence.  Old and stubborn as he is, he might consider his secrets essential.  He may even be operating under the good old "If they don't know the thing, then the thing can't hurt them" bullshit that Harry's had so much fun with. 

•   [Merlin] I wasn't aware of that WOJ.  Can you point to it?  My reasoning for why Merlin was speaking in something that Harry could recognize as British was due to Merlin purportedly living backwards in time; i.e. "born at the wrong end of time, and I have to live backwards from in front", per The Once and Future King.  It makes sense for why something that sounds mostly normal and human would be understandable.

  No yeah, I agree, I figured that Merlin being an ongoing part of Demonreach was essential to its construction.  Not only does he have to build it in several points in time, but he has to keep it together through all of them.

Alas, I can't be sure exactly which Q&A had Jim debunk the theory.  I remember I found it in one of these threads, and there was a link to the video when I asked for it, but I can't seem to find it in my post history.  As best I can recall:

Question:  "Does the original Merlin sound British?"

Jim:  "Does the original Merlin sound British?  He probably sounds so unintelligibly British you wouldn't be able to tell he was speaking english.  But uh, no, he's not the guy in Demonreach, I've said that already."

•   [Vadderung] - Not sure, to be honest.  But the being Odin is not well-known for being a nice, kind, helpful old soul.  He's an extremely complex character, and while Loki is the characteristic 'trickster god' of the Norse pantheon, Odin is also a trickster and not 100% good.  Yet, he's the only side character who has ever appeared to be 100% benevolent to Harry, offering advice and services and aid without requiring anything but a nickel in return.  No one gets a free lunch, and Harry and Vadderung aren't friends.  He's in it for something.  I trust Grey's wary attitude towards Vadderung far more than the All-Father's general pleasant demeanor.

  I'd buy that he's playing a game.  I can't think of any reason to suspect Odin of outright treachery, though.  I think his willingness to assist Harry is straightforward- he don't give a damn about what the bad guys think of him, and they're playing out of the same dugout.  He's also not 100% benevolent, and Harry never really thinks he is.  Odin runs a grade-A mercenary group, selling his services to the likes of Marcone and God only knows who else.  Then there was when Harry got in his way, trying to demand more help from him.  Vadderung told him to move, with just a hint of "don't fuck with me" thrown in.  Harry showed a drop of wisdom and moved.  Granted it's not much malice, but enough that I think Odin would be smart enough not to show it if he intended to string Harry along with the nice guy routine.

•   [Amoracchius] - Cool beans.

  Thank you, I worked hard on that one.

•   [Mirror Choice] - To be honest, it's nothing more than a hunch, and far less developed than any other idea that I've listed here.  But as far as I can reckon, it's the one decision that Harry could have made that would be at once more good and intending positivity (i.e. being honest with Susan) but would have had far more disastrous consequences.

  It took me a good five seconds to wonder why things would have ended WORSE with him being positive and open, when it hit me-  if he'd taken Susan as his +1, then Michael would never have come along.  And it's for that exact reason that I don't think Harry would have survived the night to go on and become NegaHarry.  Unless NegaHarry is actually a Red Court vampire... which didn't even make the top five of my list of suspicions.  But that would be interesting.

Okay.  Here we go.

1:  Malcolm probably wouldn't be working in Ghost Chicago.  He doesn't have any particular skills that seem to be ubiquitous for the people that work there.  Not only that, but it's implied that it's a kind of Purgatory; a place people go when they don't feel comfortable moving on.  Malcolm was, by all accounts, a good man.  Maybe he chose to stay in between for Harry's sake, sure, but I think him communicating with his son isn't related to spirit detectives.

2:  I'm uhm-ing and ahh-ing about this.  I've read a lot of theories and this one pops up every now and then.  One thing to consider- how tall are Cowl and Kumori?  I can't remember if it was ever mentioned, but I would think one of the first things Harry would describe is how Cowl is very nearly as tall as himself.  He mentions it whenever Rashid appears for the first time in a book.

3:  This seems likely.  Sharkface calls him "Watcher"- which just screams to me that he's one of the Grigori, angels sent to watch over humanity in the Book of Enoch and fell for one of a few reasons.  Probably for begetting the Nephilim with human women.  Maybe siding with Lucifer (or someone named Satanail).

4:  That seems like something that Butters would have mentioned during Skin Game, don't you think?

5-6:  Also unlikely.  The first thing Eb would do is spread the corruption to Harry, who trusts Eb implicitly.  Most of the time.  Or enough, at least, to get the job done.  And even if he weren't able to taint him, Eb has the raw power to sabotage Harry at any point.  All he'd need to do is nudge him just the wrong way.  Leave him to die at Chicken Pizza.  No need to play the long con at that point.

7:  Doubt it.  I used to think the same thing, but WoJ is that Merlin sounds so British that you wouldn't be able to tell he was speaking english.  Granted, he's said you can't always trust his statements, but there's no real reason to think otherwise besides "but what if he's lying?"

8:  Okay, I'll bite.  What exactly does he want?

9:  Eh.  I wouldn't bet either way.

10:  That seems extremely specific.  But I'll bite again; why that exact choice?

I think Mac's operation is a LITTLE bigger than that. He likely does not brew in individual bottles, he makes way too much of the stuff. He probably brews elsewhere and pours it into bottles then seals it.

In any case, I dont remember anyone other than Mac and the lady bartender in Curses (who is also not human) doing it.

  Jill?  Did she even make her own brew?  I thought they were drinking Mac's stuff.

I guess I better hope I can survive the... punishment.

  Bailiff, break that man's kneecaps.

Coming from a home brewer, you cannot actually have caps that are not tight.  You bottle after fermentation (your recipe might call for primary only or primary and secondary fermentation or something even more  elaborate).  You add a bit of sugar (primer) to the beer and then seal it air tight.  The yeast eats the sugar and produces carbon dioxide, which is how you get carbonation in your beer.  If the seals weren't air tight and strongly on, you'd have a blow out - the caps would be shot off and the beer ruined.  Even if they didn't pop off, your beer would get contaminated.  One of the most critical aspects of brewing is absolutely cleanliness - bottles, caps, all your brewing equipment will be cleaned and sanitized, usually using a combination of things such as an oxygen cleaner and/or food acid type disinfectant.  Any strain bacteria could instead eat the sugar otherwise and that would lead to skunky, nasty beer. 

  Considering Mac's stuff is neither skunky nor nasty, yet apparently is also not on tight enough to prevent casual opening, it seems there's more than a little sugar and spice in the brew.  Probably something to protect it from contamination.

So I got Brief Cases the other day, and when Luccio comes upon the necromancer card game, she briefly considers lighting them all on fire.

She dismisses the idea because the fire would probably burn the place down and the unspoken rule against using magic in front of civilians.

She does not, however, take into account that torching four men with magical fire would be breaking the First Law of Magic.

Harry has mentioned before a "self defense" clause, but I think this is the first time we have someone who is (or will be) a real authority on the laws and how they're administered considering using magic to kill.

What think y'all?

  Something I've never been clear on perhaps; when a Warden has to ice a warlock, does using magic against them still count as black magic?  Is that why they specifically have to finish the job with the sword?  It makes sense, in a technical way, but I can't remember anything specific on the matter.