BLUEMONT, Va. — Back when he was at the red-hot, klieg-lighted center of the worst political scandal in a generation, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North was accused more than once of mixing a little fiction in with his facts. So perhaps there's a little justice for Mr. North, now a conservative radio talk-show host and the capital's newest celebrity novelist, in writing a Washington thriller that mixes a few uncomfortable facts in with his fiction. "I'm not trying to settle any scores," insisted Mr. North, who at 58 is only a little grayer and a little thicker than when he...