I held the XDS and it just didn't feel right. I've been waiting for the shields to become available around here but it could be a while. For now, my glock 26 is my carry.

Hope you find your shield. I got mine the day they were released, he had 94 of them in the morning and was sold out by days end. I'm getting another as soon as they become more readily available.

I keep looking and waiting. They should be available someday. It took a while before the Nano's became common. Now they're sitting in the cases.

Here's another vote for the Glock. The only issue you might experience is limp wristing. If your wife is small or has little upper body strength she might not grip the Glock steadily enough for it to function reliably. This is about the only way to make a Glock malfunction. (They do often fail to lock the slide open after you fire the last round).

They require little maintenance, but don't feel as good in the hand as other designs.

My recommendation for someone wanted a "general handgun" is always the Glock 19 (with night sights).

My recommendation for someone wanting a "to hades and back" handgun in a superior fighting cartridge is the HK USP. This will, however, be too large for your wife's hands. Its big in my hands, but they are STONE reliable. Just don't shoot cast bullets because they have polygonal rifling.

Ruger GP 100. Solid firearm that can handle all the pressure any hot .357 can dish out. The added bonus is being able to feed the beast with more pedestrian .38 rounds!