We're gearing up for the final fight of Book 6 this weekend, so I can say with quite a bit of confidence that you've already got the major issue covered in your spoiler.
My party was very gratifying; they knew I didn't want to add her as an "extra howitzer" for the group, so they just played along in-character in a magnificent way:
"Shalelu, why don't you cover the exits to make sure no one escapes while we go in and investigate?"
I got to roleplay her, the party got to know her very well (there's a very creepy CHA 8-on-CHA 8 romance going between her and the party barbarian), but she didn't impact any of the combats in the AP.
Short answer: No harm, other than a loss of a bit of roleplay.
I just forced her on my group and I have to constantly remind myself that she is there.
So far she is doing for my group the same thing she is doing in NobodysHome's game... "Shalelu is covering the rear and making sure the horses don't run at the sound of combat, you can feel safe no one will sneak up on you from behind" (i.e. the GM doesn't want to bother with an NPC unless I think a fight is specifically brutal, or in response to the party struggling with an enemy)
She is like a safety net in the shape of an elven barbie doll
We had a party of 6 when I ran "Hook Mountain Massacre," so I didn't bother with Shalelu at all in that part of the adventure. I was also in the position of having to GMPC a PC whose player had to take a six-week leave of absence: we couldn't come up with a better in-game way to exclude that character for part of the adventure and allow him to show up again when the player returned. In addition, I was pretty sure that the PCs were going to be traveling for a little while with some additional NPCs.
So, with all the NPCs I had to keep track of, I simply didn't use the subplot with Shalelu mentioned in the spoiler.
My players never clicked with Shalelu when I ran her in "Burnt Offerings," so it wasn't a great loss.
I pretty much dropped Shalelu from everything post-Burnt Offerings. But I also killed off all the Black Arrows except Tsuto (who had been sentenced to Fort Rannick by his father Justice Ironbriar after being captured in the Glassworks by the party and returned to Magnimar) -- and he isn't in great shape.
Plus the party sort of dilly-dallied on the way to Turtleback Ferry, so by the time they got to the Graul's most of the Black Arrows had been made into barbeque. They should discover that this week in fact!
I generally have six at the table as well and they don't need the extra firepower. So while her whole storyline is interesting, it's not really critical to the overall plot (IMO).
CJ
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I'd initially forgotten her. I had her meet them in Turtleback Ferry, and did have her roleplay with meeting her stepdad (allowed for the group curmudgeon to make snarky comments). But I've no idea how I'll keep them from being a part of the group.
One thing I might do is have them offer to do a diversionary attack so the group could in theory sneak into the hidden passages. While this would leave out the whole "Kaven is unveiled by Lucrecia" bit, they'll undoubtedly figure him out soon enough.
(They already know the tattoo and had a most hilarious dueling Bluff/Sense Bull rolls - both Kaven and the cleric rolled unmodified 19s at the same time, so Kaven was able to bluff the cleric despite her KNOWING things weren't kosher. Though seeing that the Cleric memorized Sending, she could always warn Shalelu about Kaven once they find the List with his name on it. And then come back to find the other Black Arrows decapitated him upon learning.)
Actually, one thing that might work is to have the NPCs and the two Cohorts remain behind for the diversionary attack, and then have the core group (four players and the GMPC Arcane Trickster) sneak into the place. I'll have to suggest that.
My group is nowhere near that far so my opinion is mostly speculation...
I think she's included as support for the "assumed" group size of 4. And she has appropriate skills for what is almost exclusively an outdoor Book. If you've got six PC's and she doesn't close any skill or ability gaps, I don't think you lose anything. Indeed as the other posts here show, she could end up being more of a meta-gaming distraction. You don't even have to abandon the story line that attaches her to the particular NPC. He could share details about his background and the players could make the connection. He could follow them back to Sandpoint later or they could send her off to Fort Rannick to help rebuild the Black Arrows.