My reply was quick: "Translation is finally catching up with them. They've been there all along, just like any other place."
But the real answer may be more complex than that. I found a web site and blog provided by Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, http://homepages.gac.edu/~fister/scandcrime, that suggest two factors: the caliber of crime fiction author Henning Mankell, and the 1986 assassination of Sweden's prime minister, with the cultural trauma this inflicted.
Discussion, anyone?
Sounds like there could be at least 3 plausible reasons - translations, a good writer to follow, and the political situation, which seems to be the target in the Stieg Larsson trilogy.
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