One reason crime is so rampant in Sweden might be that ordinary foodshops sell the books; often displayed next to the checkout. You know when you’re bored and impatient standing with your trolley; you might as well buy a book as pick up a bar of chocolate or the Sainsbury magazine.
Yesterday at Willy’s (yes, really) I found both Indridason, Nesser and Läckberg among the six or so paperbacks right next to the queue.
At my local holiday Spar a couple of years ago I found Stephen Booth next to my most favourite bread. Good place for him. I even wrote and told Stephen, and he was nice enough not to run kicking and screaming away from a mad email.
Maybe more foodshops should put books where they do the most good. My English Spar only offers Warburton’s sliced bread where I queue and it gets boring after a while.
If the queue is really slow you could always start reading.
The Occasional Bookwitch 
This revelation could be packaged as an important marketing study! Think of the millions to be made, at least millions of connections between readers and writers.
In the USA, where we supposedly aren’t good readers, it is hard to find a type of shop that doesn’t carry books. In food and petrol shops, or at the chemist’s, crime fiction constitutes a major fraction of the offerings.
I, too, am writing about books I read (nearlynothingbutnovels). Please stop by to see if you like what I have to say, or don’t like what I say. Maybe you will feel compelled to leave a comment or will want to link back. I quite like Henning Mankell though I haven’t written about him yet (just been at it 10 days).
I found your site via Detectives Beyond Borders (detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com), which is a very good site. Best wishes, Jim
I should pay more attention to the availability of books in supermarkets on my travels. Here in North America, one might find Nora Roberts or Tom Clancy if the supermarket has a book section. But one would certainly not find them right by the queue. That’s the territory where People magazine pushes the highbrow end of the available reading matter.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I think it’s also important that reluctant readers realise that books aren’t so scary after all. So to stand in a queue and get acquainted with books is a good thing. Did actually see some paperbacks at Sainsbury’s the other day, but they just looked as if someone had thrown them there, with little consideration as to what would sell well.
I saw cheap editions of French classics in an imprint called “1 livre/1 Euro” at a supermarket in France. I bought a copy of Le Neveau de Rameau. The books were not near the checkout lines, though.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/