RE: Looking for a pistol/protection for the wife..
what about an airweight K-frame Smith? Chief's Special, something like that... I think they made one with a bobbed hammer that wasn't shrouded, too.
Don't know if I'd run +P's or mag's through it, but the old FBI .38 load would work fine...
but I like the PPK idea, too.
I've been out of handgunning for so long it ain't hardly funny... don't Beretta make a small frame pistol? I think they used to call it the Jaguar or something like that...