According to Wikipedia:"Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton (October 30, 1857 – June 14, 1948) was an American writer. After her husband's death, in 1887, she was free to pursue her writing career as a protégée of Ambrose Bierce, eventually writing 60 books and numerous articles and short stories... When Kate Field remarked that California writers' neglect of the picturesque and romantic old Spanish life of the state, Atherton explored the history and culture of Spanish California in Monterey, San Juan Bautista, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara..."