beat a dead horse vs scrutinize

beat a dead horse

verb
  • To persist or continue far beyond any purpose, interest or reason. 

scrutinize

verb
  • To examine something with great care or detail, as to look for hidden or obscure flaws. 

  • To audit accounts etc in order to verify them. 

How often have the words beat a dead horse and scrutinize occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )