I had success on the north side with Yews and Emerald&Gold-Euonymous. Whats great about these shrubs is the low maint. Just give them a light trim every year to maintain a round compact form.

Do you really need to do shrubs? How about some of the giant hostas? Krossa Regal is about the same size as a small shrub. If you have your heart set on a shrub, how about a hardy rose bush. Some are shade tolerant.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. MNSue- that spot is very shady- too shady even for the shade tolerant roses as there is no direct sunlight to that spot. Luckily I have plenty of them in my sunny beds to keep me happy. I am using a few giant blue hostas, but only as accents... the previous owner had them everywhere and I'm still diggin them out, I like them in small doses only.

I'll check out that Euonymous jasper, thanks! What kind of fall color do you see out of those?

I'll second the euonymous. Some Clethera and Viburnum are very shade tolerant. You might want to look into boxwood as well.